[Sanlitun]

I picked up this phone yesterday based on some of the audio reviews and yes it is fabulous for music playback. Indeed it is the best sound I have heard from any phone, and it beats most of the portable devices I have tried as well. In fact listening last night to this phone had me wondering about the sound quality from my rather expensive desktop rig.
 
Prior to this I was using the Xperia Z1 which was good, but couldn't match this for clarity or volume levels.
 
The only drawback so far is that HTC's Sense is the worst Android skin I have ever used. Sony has them beaten by far in that regard.
 
Oh and about the camera, the Z1 20MP camera took the worst and grainiest pics of any phone I had owned, so don't buy into the MP hype. Effectively this camera is better and the larger sensor pixels have a better dynamic range.

 

[Duncan]

I can seemingly confirm, via Neutron player that doesn't use the V4A driver that disabling LPA and tunnel.audio seemingly lessens the popping, unsure right now if completely or just enough not to matter...

Correlation between myself and the XDA poster, both of us have treble-centric 'phones which might explain why some hear it but others don't...

 

[foxtronaut]

Straight from an XDA member:
I have only one complaint about the audio output.



When I'am using the phone with the Beyerdynamics dt 770 ohm headphones it sounds great till like 75-80% volume ( using neutron / in the stock player like 3 ticks from max volume). At around that percentage I can hear some clipping/popping sounds.



I didn't experience this with the iphone 5s. The problem is, the volume might be good enough for normal lower ohm headphones, but the loudness at about 75% is lower than max volume at the iphone 5s.



Can this be fixed by an update or is it a hardware problem?



I don't trust anyone who smiles before 9 am

 
Can confirm popping on the DT770 80ohms. V4A with LPA disabled using Google Music Player.
 
Edit: I'm going to further investigate with HTC support.

 

[Duncan]

   
Can confirm popping on the DT770 80ohms. V4A with LPA disabled using Google Music Player.
 
Edit: I'm going to further investigate with HTC support.

Please do...
 
Will say I was out and about when I made my last post - definitely appeared less on that journey, but did pick up on it...
 
Wonder if the CPU governor has something to do with it, when sleeping, and a notification comes through, seems worse (breaking audio completely at its worst)...
 
As I mentioned previously this was also noted by me on the M7 a year ago...

 

[live1]

perhaps your m8 is defective.because i heard no clipping or distortion etc at full volume using my jvc iems

 

[Omnom]

Okay guys I really need some help deciding on which phone to get, the HTC One M8 or the Xperia Z2.
After looking up many reviews and impressions on both these phones I still can't sort it out!!!

Basically what I've got the gist of is that, the HTC has a simple UI, clean and easy to use. Some top notch hardware, however is only really let down by the camera (which in a way is redundant to me as I am not one to use a smartphone purely for its camera). 
I'm a fan of the all metal design, especially that gun metal colour. I like the little features such as the gestures, and the camera gimmicks but that seems all about it. It also has boomsound speakers which is awesome, but I dont really use my phone speakers, I tend to usually have headphones in.
 
The Xperia Z2 is the place to go for its hardware in all aspects, it too has stereo speakers, however not in the same league as HTC, but definitely better than the GS5. I've seen a few of the software videos and I must say, Sony have really cleaned up their UI, it looked really nice! In a way similar to that of Sense 6. I also love the fact that its waterproof! You never know when you could drop it! Especially near water!
 
Im leaning slightly more towards the Z2, however, price is an issue. 

Ive already order the HTC One M8 through amazon when it was at its cheaper $650 price and when it was on backlog. I've still got a couple more days to decide whether or not its worth cancelling. How much is the Z2 gonna be costing? Any much more than $650? $700?
 
I love both phone designs and what they offer. But I'm also a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to actually buying things!!!

Anyway I thought I'd also let you know that I live in New Zealand, so none of that contract stuff, I need it straight unlocked!

Cheers,

 

[Roscoeiii]

I'm not sure if it is just my JH16 is too sensitive or not, but is anyone else experiencing hiss when music is playing (and a few seconds afterwards while the amp is still on)?

Uh oh. That was my concern about this phone with my Shure 846s. 

 

[Darkseth]

  Okay guys I really need some help deciding on which phone to get, the HTC One M8 or the Xperia Z2.
After looking up many reviews and impressions on both these phones I still can't sort it out!!!

Basically what I've got the gist of is that, the HTC has a simple UI, clean and easy to use. Some top notch hardware, however is only really let down by the camera (which in a way is redundant to me as I am not one to use a smartphone purely for its camera). 
I'm a fan of the all metal design, especially that gun metal colour. I like the little features such as the gestures, and the camera gimmicks but that seems all about it. It also has boomsound speakers which is awesome, but I dont really use my phone speakers, I tend to usually have headphones in.
 
The Xperia Z2 is the place to go for its hardware in all aspects, it too has stereo speakers, however not in the same league as HTC, but definitely better than the GS5. I've seen a few of the software videos and I must say, Sony have really cleaned up their UI, it looked really nice! In a way similar to that of Sense 6. I also love the fact that its waterproof! You never know when you could drop it! Especially near water!
 
Im leaning slightly more towards the Z2, however, price is an issue. 

Ive already order the HTC One M8 through amazon when it was at its cheaper $650 price and when it was on backlog. I've still got a couple more days to decide whether or not its worth cancelling. How much is the Z2 gonna be costing? Any much more than $650? $700?
 
I love both phone designs and what they offer. But I'm also a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to actually buying things!!!

Anyway I thought I'd also let you know that I live in New Zealand, so none of that contract stuff, I need it straight unlocked!

Cheers,

 
Well, maybe slightly offtopic but anyway.
 
Did you already played with both? watched reviews about them to see the user interface etc?
 
What i can promise, no matter what "hands" you have: The HTC M8 will fit better than the Z2.
 
The M8 might not be so fully waterproof as the Xperia, but it has still an IPx3 certification, which protects it alittle from water/rain/etc.
 
2600 mAh battery vs. 3200.. but that doesnt have to say anything. The M8 lasts longer than the LG G2 which has a 3000 mAh battery.
 
i personally would stick with the HTC, because of the design, and material.
Also the camera might be a better allrounder. True, it has way less details when you zoom in, or big prints, but the HTC cam has a better low light performance, an very fast shutter, and more "features" like uFocus etc for more creativity.
Also the 5 MP front camera.
 
The HTC should also have the better audio quality with headphones.
 
i would try them out. YOU have to use it for the next time/years, so YOU have to be comfortable with holding/using it
 
Otherwise: watch alot reviews.

 

[Duncan]

perhaps your m8 is defective.because i heard no clipping or distortion etc at full volume using my jvc iems

What model of IEM?

Also, which post are you referring to, how far back in the thread? Did you get as far as it being a CPU / loading (in my mind) issue? (My logic being if you can lessen the effect by disabling LPA - low power audio, then must be something to do with either over utilised CPU or something wrong with the amplifier HTC use when being under driven). If playing on stock firmware with very little in the way of extra software on the device, and without using treble happy 'phones (the FX700 may apply here but I believe the FX500 will be too inefficient) then you probably won't hear it...

It really seems to be a case of needing all the planets to line up correctly for it to happen, and it does seem for a few, that something does (I cannot believe MY luck would be that bad for this to be due to defects, AND that it has affected me on both this phone, AND the M7 a year before...)

 

[Duncan]

...As an addendum to the above post, trying something here (will report back if successful in an hour or so), but would be good to have an idea from people where they're located (IE EU = bad, rest of world = good)...
 
Bear with me a short while...

 

[Simma]

Well, I also experience this vinyl-like crackling at higher volumes with Sennheiser Momentums as well as HD25s. Didn't test with my cheap pair of soundmagic in ears yet.
It's the international version bought in Germany.

You've mentioned the same issue on the M7. Has this somehow been resolved by now? I'm still thinking about returning it because of this issue, but I've about 25 more days left to think about it

 

[fixxxer667]

Hi all, also got my (German, unbranded preorder from O2) One m8 and one of the reasons was the rave reviews about SQ.
So, the problem is that I still haven't found a sweet spot with its configuration, compared to my (dearly departed) S3.

The s3 would sound all-around great with aosp, poweramp and no EQ on Soundmagic IEMs (tested with mp21 headset and pl-50) or my px-100-IIi Senns.

Now, with the m8 (still on stock rom), poweramp, no EQ and Boomsound off, while some genres sound great, guitar heavy music sounds a bit off in the mids and highs. At first I thought it was just the (HTC branded) bundled beats replica that was the issue, so I tried with my px-100-IIi and a shiny new pair of Shure se215s.

Still similar results. I can't entirely place it, but guitars sound a bit shrill. Lowering the volume and playing with the EQ somewhat remedies that, but the lows also loose their punchiness quickly after you go under 60% vol. Disabling Poweramp's direct volume control feature has somewhat improved the stock rom audio, but I'm seriously starting to get concerned that I'm missing something (possibly my hearing, hopefully a setting, potentially bad media quality?).

Anyone else listening to post-rock, stoner, etc. on their m8s that could offer some insight here? I do hope that I do not have to take my device back to O2 for an exchange.

 

[pukemon]

i turned off mobile data on my note3 for the sound anomalies.  well, 90% of them.  i could leave wifi on and rarely got anything negative unless i was doing some heavy downloading or something cpu intensive.  airplane mode and just using the phone only for music should get rid of most interference if not all.  but yeah, try turning mobile data off while listening.  these are cellphones first and foremost, with good audio as a nice bonus.

 

[live1]

im from England so its uk models ive tested.iem i used were jvc fx101,and jvcfx3x and i used Phillips she3590.the m8 was on stock rom .i used marchall mathers lp 2.on full volume is so loud it dosent sound good because its too loud.but there is no hissing,not crackling or popping or any issues.unlike the nasty clipping the sgs4 had in the first few months until it was fixed,but i could not wait so sold it.the sgs5 sounded fine on full volume.but its not as loud as the m8.im currently using the best music phone ive ever heard and ive had every phone from nokia n91 to m7 to iphones ,nokia n8 etc etc,im thinking about returning my m8 as my nokia 808 sounds way smoother and nicer.the m8 sound is very very similar to the sgs5 imo with more powerful output

 

[Cyral]

   
Can confirm popping on the DT770 80ohms. V4A with LPA disabled using Google Music Player.
 
Edit: I'm going to further investigate with HTC support.

 
I'am the person who posted on the xda forums and I can confirm that the latest htc update doesnt fix the problem. ( Before I was on 1.12)
 
I also tested my old sennheiser hd 418 headphones and had the same result. However I didn't  experience the poppin/clipping noise with the stock htc earpods. But using the earpods at 80% + is way too loud and painful for my ears. 
 
 
Hopefully you get some useful info from the HTC support. Till about  75-80% volume the sound of the headpones is great though Definitely as good as the iphone 5s I had before.